I have listened to Dylan (as many of you have ) for amy years and am still perplexed by some of his lyrics. However, Thunder on the Mountain is one that, I believe, I have some grasp on. Dylan is talking about 9/11 in many of the phrases. i.e. "better roll your airplane down" "ladies in Washington trying to get out of town" "gonna raise me an army some tough sons a bitchs, I'll recruit my army from the orphanges"...airplane down reference to all planes being brought in on 9/11; ladies in Washington--scrambling is reference to Washington pandemonium on 9/11 (see the video); raise army,tough SOB from orphanges is reference to the children left without parents after 9/11; "hammers on the table, pitchfork on the shelf" is reference to we can war with you or have peace with you (9/11 persons); "for the love of God ya'll take pity on yourselves" is reference to war with U.S. will bring no pity. There are other refernces, also, to 9/11 in the lyrics. Some lyrics like "I've got the porkchop she's got the pie" have nothing to do with 9/11, and are pretty easy to comprehend; but overall, most of the song lyrics refer to 9/11.
I have listened to Dylan (as many of you have ) for amy years and am still perplexed by some of his lyrics. However, Thunder on the Mountain is one that, I believe, I have some grasp on. Dylan is talking about 9/11 in many of the phrases. i.e. "better roll your airplane down" "ladies in Washington trying to get out of town" "gonna raise me an army some tough sons a bitchs, I'll recruit my army from the orphanges"...airplane down reference to all planes being brought in on 9/11; ladies in Washington--scrambling is reference to Washington pandemonium on 9/11 (see the video); raise army,tough SOB from orphanges is reference to the children left without parents after 9/11; "hammers on the table, pitchfork on the shelf" is reference to we can war with you or have peace with you (9/11 persons); "for the love of God ya'll take pity on yourselves" is reference to war with U.S. will bring no pity. There are other refernces, also, to 9/11 in the lyrics. Some lyrics like "I've got the porkchop she's got the pie" have nothing to do with 9/11, and are pretty easy to comprehend; but overall, most of the song lyrics refer to 9/11.